"When budgeting for your material handling project, do your homework on today's prices before you lock in your budget numbers. Nothing dampens a project more than a budget that is unrealistic for your needs."

Press & Articles About SJF Material Handling

SJF remains very active in the material handling community and the business community at large - often authoring articles
about material handling equipment, services or opinions. As a leading voice in the MN business community, SJF and its employees
have been prominently featured in several trade publications. We have compiled these articles here on these pages for your perusal.

Please Note: Most of the function of this page has been taken up by our Material
Handling Blog. To view stories about SJF, SJF in the news and other articles about or written by us, please click on over and check it out.

Winsted Herald Journal

SJF in Winsted Gives Employees Room to Grow

April 29, 2014

What's to like about working at SJF Material Handling in Winsted?

"Everything," according to Marty Zitzloff, who has been with the company the past 24 years.

In both 2013 and 2014, Minnesota Business Magazine named SJF as one of the state's 100 best companies to
work for, based on an in-depth employee satisfaction survey. "We sort of break all the traditional rules of
how business is run," said president/sales manager Stafford Sterner, whose father, Gerald Sterner started
the material handling company in 1979.

Press Release

SJF Named to Supply Chain "Power 50" List

February 11, 2014

Over at Supply Chain Opz, they just released their "Power 50" list. This list represents the most
outstanding supply chain blogs and their contents. This list is curated based on an algorithm using social
shares (tweets, likes, google+ mentions, etc) to determine the best of the best Supply Chain Blogs on the
web for 2014.

Today SurePik Automation and business partner SJF Material Handling, (Winsted, MN) announced effective Oct. 2013, all SurePik software
will ship with built-in upgrade expandability pre-installed on all SurePik software. This update allows customers '1-click' upgrades for
user access to advanced features & functionality with nothing more than a simple button click.

According to SurePik Automation spokesman Mike Fortin, this software was designed for WMS users seeking a flexible warehouse management
solution. SurePik users now get easy access to upgrades that come pre-installed on all its WMS software. According to Fortin, this
enhancement is a substantial time and money saver for users of the SurePik software.

With SurePik, users can access, update and implement advanced features and functionality without incurring costly custom programming
and/or hardware upgrade costs. Costly upgrades traditionally associated with many legacy systems in use today are avoided. In addition,
any future inventory management requirements such as growth, advanced reporting, or cross-platform compatibility, can all be accomplished
by simply accessing components already built into SurePik's software.

To find out more about SurePik Automation and its lineup of warehouse management & inventory management software solutions, go to
http://www.SurePik.com

How to build a social machine

SJF Material Handling Equipment has sold warehouse equipment since 1979 from the small town of Winsted, about 50 miles west of Minneapolis.

So it might be a surprise that this company has built an impressive business-to-business social media network that is fostering sales growth.

The family-owned and operated firm has 47,500 followers on Twitter (and is gaining 200 to 400 followers each week), nearly 3,000 Facebook likes
and 862 Google+ followers. About 20 percent of the company's website traffic comes from social media, nearly double the 11 percent average business
website traffic driven by social, according to BtoB Online.

President Stafford Sterner's father founded the business, which stocks, sells and distributes equipment such as forklifts [warehouse racks,
conveyors & material handling equipment].

How does a such a company become a social media giant?

"The key is to be everywhere and anywhere," Sterner said. "We've always been very good at getting a handle on what's hot and what's up and
coming...Then what I do is see how it develops and what it morphs into."

Sterner manages all social media accounts and personally posts to each one about six times per day. Since the rise of the Internet, Sterner has
aimed to gain a presence on any and all new social media outlets.

On the SJF company blog, Sterner posts about new products and employee happenings. The blog's hall-of-fame page periodically showcases a specific
client, highlighting products and services SJF provided for them and offering a synopsis of the client's business.

Sterner is the moderator for material handling industry groups on LinkedIn and Google+. He often posts pictures and messages on the groups about
equipment his clients and group members are seeking.

For Sterner, business-oriented social media sites like LinkedIn and Google+ are the most effective outlets for creating and maintaining business leads.

"If you're trying to reach out to totally new markets, then you might want to do Facebook and Twitter," Sterner said. "If you're comfortable building
that relationship with people or companies you're close to, then it's LinkedIn."

Twitter is SJF's main source of social media growth because it allows the company to cover more ground, attracting customers from unexpected and often
unrelated circles.

One recent surprise came after a staffwide fishing contest in which SJF employees took pictures of their catches and posted them on Twitter and
other social media. The company began to gain thousands of followers from fishermen circles. This social media traffic in turn drew the attention of
Finnish fishing tackle giant Rapala VMC Corp., which now does business with SJF.

Sterner, an avid hunter, began mentioning guns in Twitter hashtags, and the company now sells to munitions dealers.

"With social media, you have to think outside of the box," Sterner said. "What other areas of interest does my business present that I don't see?"

For SJF, this cross-platform approach to business-to-business social media has helped it become the nation's largest distributor of its kind,
Sterner said.

Finding a focus

But for many other businesses, this across-the-board approach might be an unfocused use of resources, said Albert Maruggi, founding president of
Provident Partners, a marketing and public relations firm based in St. Paul.

Maruggi provides marketing expertise and multimedia production for companies in telecommunications, manufacturing and technology services. He blogs
and speaks about how businesses can use new media such as podcasting, video and social media to strategically market their company and communicate
with other businesses.

Most firms would benefit from a more targeted approach to social media marketing, he said. "Understand what the strength is of your product or
service and find the medium that best communicates your service."

Certain businesses are more fitted to visual social media, where they can post photos of new styles of products to Pinterest, Twitter or Facebook.

"Companies using Twitter effectively are those that are in fast-moving industries, such as hospitality or travel, where things change and consumers
are reaching out on Twitter to praise or complain," Maruggi said.

Twitter also has become increasingly important for companies participating in trade shows, Maruggi said. Organizers use Twitter hashtags, such as
#IRCE2013 for Internet Retail Conference and Expo, to help businesses network with prospects and clients attending the event.

But according to recent surveys, businesses still haven't completely latched on to Twitter for marketing.

For companies hoping to build their business-to-business social media following, Maruggi and Sterner both suggest starting conversations online, even
if they are unrelated to the industry. Post photos of company potluck dinners or walk around the plant and tweet about what's happening, Sterner said.

He also advises companies to be honest with social media followers. Whenever Sterner posts an advertisement about a product or service, he will tell
followers, "Here's a shameless plug."

Make an effort to re-tweet and respond to clients' comments whenever possible, Sterner said. "The people on our Facebook account get to the point
where they feel like they know our employees. Put a human face on your company."

SJF Material Handling Inc, in cooperation with Canadian business partner EspaceMax, announced today several new product design enhancements
to its high density pallet storage line effective July 1, 2013.

In June 2013, SJF Material Handling, Winsted, MN announced a strategic partnership with Canadian manufacturer Espace/Max to become its National
distributor for the pallet flow product line in the USA. The Espace/Max pallet flow system is quickly gaining national acclaim as one of the latest
in a new generation of high density pallet flow storage solutions hitting the market.

According to SJF President Stafford Sterner, the Espace/Max pallet flow system provides customers all the benefits of traditional push-back &
pallet flow systems without many of the drawbacks & limitations traditionally associated with these older legacy systems.

One of the initial challenges was the ability to stage pallets squarely into the storage lanes in order to assure easy stock & retrieval of
pallets. Several key new design enhancements have been incorporated in the manufacturing process eliminating any positioning issues. According to
Sterner, the latest design enhancements have taken a very good product and made it even better. Initial feedback from clients has been very positive.
Users find this system easy to use with very little maintenance required. For those looking for deep pallet storage from 3 to 10 positions deep, the
EspaceMax Pallet Flow system is proving to be a real contender.

About the Nomination (From Minnesota Business Magazine) [this award salutes] Minnesota organizations setting the standard for employee
well-being. The 100 Best are chosen using data gathered from an anonymous employee satisfaction survey administered by an independent research
group. Only the top Minnesotan companies, as judged in areas such as work environment, employee benefits, employee happiness, and leadership,
are selected for inclusion in the list.

The awards ceremony honoring this year's top 100 companies was held Thursday, June 6th at The Depot in Minneapolis MN.

SJF would like to thank its many employees and MN Business Magazine for making this award possible.

Founded in 1979, SJF Material Handling (http://www.sjf.com) is a family owned & operated material handling
company headquartered in Winsted, Minnesota.

Special Feature: Buyer Beware

Now is a good time to consider used material handling equipment. For those struggling to survive in this down
market, selecting used instead of new equipment is an opportunity to save a significant amount of money.

And, there's plenty of supply. In fact, we may soon see droves of used equipment sellers crawling out of the
woodwork. Today, there's a mad rush to consolidate facilities to cut costs and drive efficiency. A company that
once had 10 distribution centers, for example, now has five. There's nothing wrong with equipment from closed
facilities. Businesses are liquidating it not because it is defective but because they need to shed assets.

As a result, material handling professionals can buy a fully functioning piece of equipment for pennies on
the dollar. But, don't smash the piggy bank just yet. Caution is strongly advised when investigating the
opportunity offered by used material handling equipment. Consolidation is creating a profit opportunity that
unscrupulous people will exploit.

There is no board that certifies dealers of used pallet racks, for example. Used dealers are not authorized
by the original manufacturer or anyone else. Sellers of used equipment can be ordinary people, brokers, middlemen
or auctioneers.

Material handling systems - conveyors, sorting systems and shelving - represent major purchasing decisions, no
matter how you slice it. The wrong decision can be costly, and making the right decision can be difficult because
of the numerous options available.

So, how do you tell a legitimate operation from a phony one? To get the answer, you have to perform some due
diligence. To help you do that, I've compiled seven key questions you should ask to avoid being taken to the cleaners.

1. Does the seller stock what it sells?

Dealers with inventory offer delivery assurance and easy inspection of items in stock. Even if the specific
item you are looking for is not in the current inventory, the fact that inventory exists tells you some positive
things. Some dealers give the impression of having more stock or a larger operation than they have, if they have
one at all. Beware of false impressions.

A few years back, a self-proclaimed "major" dealer had a Web site with a picture representing his company
location. The photo featured a large, impressive-looking building. Barely visible in the bottom corner of the
photo was the dealer's actual office: a room in the shopping mall across the street.

Obviously, your best bet is to see the dealer's facility for yourself, but that's not always convenient,
especially in the early stages of your search when you are researching numerous dealers.

One way around this is to go online to a site that shows satellite images, such as Google Earth, and enter
the dealer's address. Look at the satellite photo of the location. If the seller operates out of a basement
or a shopping center, they most likely have no inventory. If inventory is extensive, you should be able to
see it in the photo. Also, beware of P.O. boxes and suite numbers, which often disguise one-room offices.

2. Is it an established business?

The material handling equipment business is extremely competitive, and dealers with bad reputations don't last long.
Look for a company with at least 10 years of business history under the same name. There is at least one such dealer
in every major city in the U.S.

Long-term survival is not just proof that a dealer has treated customers well. Experienced suppliers can tell
jewels from junk. They are knowledgeable about industry trends and standards. In general, their recommendations are
good, prices are fair and colleagues and competitors respect them.

3. Is it a real business?

I already mentioned people doing business out of basements and shopping malls, but it gets worse. Some people sell
material handling equipment in their spare time. They have a day job, which may or may not have taught them something
about material handling. They have neither the experience to guide you to the right items nor the resources to support
you after the sale.

Ask for a business phone number, not just an e-mail address or cell phone number. If nobody answers the phone,
and you get the same person's voice mail every time, there may be a problem. If your contact can't meet with you
during normal business hours, there's definitely a problem.

4. Does the seller own what it sells?

Some brokers are nothing more than deal makers, simply flipping equipment by making a couple of phone calls. What
you want are people who have demonstrated faith in the quality and salability of their business by investing their
own money in it.

Also, any legitimate dealer will be happy to let you inspect equipment. Don't accept photos. Large dealers may
have multiple storage facilities throughout the country. Use the money you save by purchasing used equipment to
get on a plane and go see the equipment. If an item has only recently become available, it may still be on the
premises of the former owners. If you are performing an inspection at a place not owned by the dealer, ask for
proof of ownership.

And, don't give a dealer money to buy equipment. Some equipment comes on the market because the current owner
went bankrupt, and if the court seizes the assets of the company, you may never see the equipment or your money
ever again.

5. Is the company financially sound?

If your purchase is large enough to justify the expense, it may be a good idea to get a D&B (Dun & Bradstreet)
report. The cost is $100 or less and can easily pay for itself many times over. This will tell you who they buy
from, their payment record, lawsuits filed against them, when they were incorporated, number of employees and
names of owners and officers.

If people claim to be owners and operators, but they are not listed as either, this may indicate an attempt
to shelter themselves or their assets from lawsuits or bankruptcies. While privately held companies will often
divulge less information than public ones, reputable companies have nothing to hide. Use common sense when
evaluating companies. There are plenty of good people running good companies. Avoid those who conceal their
histories, owners, officers, backgrounds and/or financial information.

6. Can the dealer follow up?

Anyone can sell equipment, but only a few service what they sell. Once you own the equipment, someone has to
inspect, repair, replace, buy back, deliver, install and maintain it. If the broker can't do that, you have
to start searching for somebody who can. Ask to see facilities and resources for performing such services.

Be aware that some brokers may tell you they have somebody else to perform those services. Keep in mind that
adding a middleman can mean a loss of control over costs and schedules. It also complicates communication. Can
they repair or replace items that get damaged or need repair? If so, at what price?

7. What is the dealer's reputation?

You can always ask for references, but be wary of lists they voluntarily give you. Some references are kept on
a permanent retainer, and almost all of them are carefully selected.

Instead, ask about jobs they have performed in your area and if you can talk to customers. If they can't
provide names, it may mean they have no track record in your area or have had issues servicing them, resulting
in poor relations.

Another tip is to call their competitors. Ask if they have ever heard of the company. Ask about reputation
and experiences dealing with them. While impressions and opinions are just that, this is one instance in which
no news is not good news. Feedback like "I'd rather not say" or "No comment" are not good testimonials.

has over 30 years experience within the material
handling industry and is currently President of SJF Material Handling Inc.
a nationwide provider of new & used material handling equipment & services.

Press Release

SJF Introduces Software Solution for Carousel Control

Winsted, MN - (September 9, 2008) SJF Material Handling of Winsted, Minnesota has announced the introduction of Sure-Pik(TM)
Lite Carousel Storage and Retrieval Software. Sure-Pik can be used with any make or model of horizontal or vertical carousel
using the original controls or SJF's Chameleon Carousel Controls.(TM)

Users log in, then use the keyboard or a scanner to enter the part number, SKU or other identifier. Information about the part
is displayed on screen, and a click of the Retrieve button brings the part location to the operations area. Full diagnostics are
included, and the system can also be run in Bin Location mode, which operates much like manual carousel controls to retrieve parts
by location. The View Parts function permits the operator to search for a part with incomplete knowledge such as half a part
number, product type, etc.

Training Your Way: The Final Piece

Training is one of those things that you pay for one way or the other. Qualified employees demand a higher
price on the job market. Additional outside training has both direct and indirect costs. Failure to train can
result in lower productivity, safety problems and the failure to develop more responsible, more valuable employees.

Most organizations realize the importance of well-trained workers. They hire the best they can find and try to
get them the additional training they need. The last piece in the training puzzle, however, is often left to
informal and incomplete "on the job" methods. I am talking, of course, about the company-specific training - "the
way we do things here."

Every company has its own procedures and best practices, its own mix of equipment and materials worked with, not
to mention its own culture and philosophy for dealing with suppliers and customers. All of these things have to be
learned by every new employee. Some training is government mandated, like the training employees are required to
complete before working with hazardous materials. Some training, like showing someone how to use the copier, is
obvious. The rest, unfortunately, is often left for the new employee to pick up somehow along the way.

The experience and expertise acquired over time by your employees is a tremendous resource, and a new employee
thrown into the mix will gradually pick up some of it over time. At least, that's the way it used to work. Today,
people change jobs as quickly as they change their cell phones, and the rapid turnover causes two problems for the
old way of training:

1: You can't afford to wait around for the long-term benefits of gradual training. An accelerated training
program is the only way you can get full value out of a new employee who may not be with you very long.

2: Every time a skilled employee moves on, you lost that employee's experience and expertise. In many cases,
there just isn't anyone around anymore that knows the company's policies, procedures and preferred methods.

Fortunately, both of these birds can be killed with a single stone.

Creating a Written Best Practices Manual

You probably already have an employee manual that lays out policies on sick days, parking, lunch breaks and the
like. You may have training materials for safety procedures and specific pieces of equipment or software programs.
With a little additional effort, similar materials can be created to help new employees achieve the productivity
levels of the "old hands" in the shortest time possible. This Best Practices Manual will save you a lot of time -
and headaches - in the future.

What Goes In?

That's up to you. Depending on the kind of business you are in, topics could range from phone etiquette to the
best way to pack a semi trailer. The first step is to determine just what your people need to know in order to do
their jobs better.

Who should put it together?

Only management has the broad overview to make certain that every necessary topic is covered, but supervisors and
even experienced workers are often the best source of material. Once management has approved a plan, one or more
people should be assigned to gather the content together and make it available to your employees.

What form should it take?

Depending on your workplace, best practices can be made available either in print or online. The important thing
is that they are readily available to anyone who needs them and that the format makes frequent updates possible.
If you decide on hard copy, put it in a three-ring binder or similar format for ease of updating.

Why should you make it flexible?

First of all, you won't think of everything the first time around. If nothing else, you will eventually run across
an employee doing something dangerous, incredibly inefficient or really bad for business - something it never occurred
to you that anyone would even think of doing. That goes into the manual under the DON'T DO THIS section. On the other
hand, your people will frequently come up with a new, faster or better way of doing something you've been doing for
years. That's a DO THIS entry.

How do I know if it's working?

As with any other initiative, you will want to measure how well your Best Practices Manual is working. That can be
done at several stages. New employees can be tested before or shortly after they assume their new duties to make
certain they have gone through the material. Brief quizzes should be created at the same time the manual is created.
More difficult to measure is the impact the manual is having on your overall productivity. In isolated cases, however,
it may be possible to set benchmarks for specific best practices. In my business, for example, I know how many storage
frames a good employee can make in an hour. I can observe how long it takes a new employee to get up to speed.

Of course, you'll have to come up with your own productivity benchmarks. Like the rest of the Best Practices Manual,
they will have to be tailored specifically to "the way you do things here."

Stafford Sterner is President of SJF Material Handling, Inc. of Winsted, Minnesota, a nationwide supplier of
material handling equipment and services for 27 years. He can be reached at 1-800-598-5532 or ssterner@sjf.com. Visit the
website at www.sjf.com.

Watch out for Project Creep: Keep Delays and Downtime at Bay

By: Frank Sterner

Training is one of those things that you pay for one way or the other. Qualified employees demand a higher
price on the job market. Additional outside training has both direct and indirect costs. Failure to train can
result in lower productivity, safety problems and the failure to develop more responsible, more valuable employees.

It's the reason sophisticated weapon systems finally become operational two weeks after the war is over. It's the reason major software releases
come out a year later than the original target date, and don't work for the first six months after that. It's called project creep - a recognized
problem in these industries and a lesser known, but still major annoyance in just about everybody's business.

Project creep is the tendency to keep making changes in the design of a new product or business system, delaying completion and greatly increasing
the cost, until somebody finally calls a halt and the project is finalized in a form that does not fully integrate all the good ideas that came up
during the design process.

The problem can take many forms:

Design deterioration - In the initial design stages, the project is usually addressed as a whole and the solution takes all
factors into account. All too often, subsequent changes are made under time pressure, and there is a risk that the change may have an unanticipated
negative impact on some other part of the project.

Lead times - When the project schedule is set up, lead times are considered. For example, certain necessary parts may require
four or five weeks for delivery. If later design changes require that new parts be substituted, that four-week wait begins all over again.

Re-engineering - Almost any change can require another look at costs, tolerances, specifications and all manner of engineering
questions - work that has already been done once.

Approval time - Every time a change is made, the people who approve such things have to look at the new specifications and
decide whether they justify the additional costs and delays. These man hours cost money.

Every project requires a certain amount of tweaking as things go along, but when things get out of hand, one of two things will happen, and both can
be costly in terms of time and money.

In the defense and software industries, the usual result is slow delivery and a larger bill than promised.

In my business - the design and implementation of material handling systems - most customers are not that flexible in terms of either price or
delivery date, because schedules are already in place for the introduction and marketing of a new product or service, and the company has no choice
but to meet that deadline. They insist on sticking to the original schedule and the original quote, and they think this solves the problem.
It doesn't.

When forced to accept design changes from a customer, with no flexibility in price or schedule, my company is left with three choices. We can cut
features in one part of the system and use the money somewhere else in order to keep the process functional, cutting corners in order to save on time
and costs. We can swallow the increased expense, reducing our profitability - which, past a certain point, is simply not going to happen. Or we can
bid high, assuming problems will come up and they have to be paid for somehow. This last option, of course, makes it more difficult to make a sale,
and penalizes the good customers that don't insist on an unreasonable number of changes.

If all parties are willing to work together, several things can be done to reduce the problem of project creep:

Consider the deadline carved in stone. If you are introducing a new product, your promotional efforts and cash flow depend
on meeting the target introduction date. If you are changing a business system, project creep can mean downtime and major delays in realizing
the benefits of the new system. Anything that can't be incorporated into the project on time and within budget can wait until the next time.

Avoid the search for perfection. A good decision now is better than a perfect decision next year. A system that will save
you $10,000 a month and can be installed this month is better than one that will save you $15,000 a month but will take a year to design and
implement. Improvements should be made according to a plan, with maximum savings implemented at the earliest time that makes sense.

Keep the ideas coming. Creative input is a good thing, and only turns into project creep when it gets out of control.
Keep the good ideas coming, then consider whether they can be implemented in the current project without jeopardizing deadlines and budgets.
If there is any possibility of that, keep them in a file as a head start on the next upgrade project.

Have a mechanism in place to monitor project creep. Anytime a change is proposed, there must be a procedure in place for evaluating the
impact the change will have on the performance, cost and schedule of the project. Do a time, cost and benefit evaluation and determine if the
change is worth the effort.

Frank Sterner is a systems solution specialist and vice president of SJF Material Handling, Inc. of Winsted, MN. He can be reached at (800) 598-5532
or . Web site is www.SJF.com

Rack up the Value

The way you set things up can pay off greatly.

By Jason Deiter

As an inside sales representative for a major material handling company, half of the phone calls I receive start the same way: "I'm looking
for racking." It's a promising start, but it's usually followed by, "I'm not sure how much I need," "I don't know what kind
I need" or "I am new to this."

I could be hundreds or even thousands of miles away from these potential customers and their problems, but with the help of faxes, email, the Internet
and digital cameras, we are usually able to share enough information to develop a proposed layout and a request for quotation.

People new to the warehouse or purchasing start out knowing that they have product sitting on the floor taking up space needing to utilize their
vertical space better. After all, they are not just paying for square footage; they are heating, cooling and maintaining a three-dimensional
space. Even more importantly, that vertical space is a wasted asset that could be used to store needed inventory and can free up floor space for
more productive uses.

What else do you need to know? In just a few minutes, you can gather all the information you need before calling your sales representative.
This includes:

The length, width and height of a single pallet that has product on it.

The weight of the pallet with product.

The clear height on the warehouse - that is, the actual usable inside height of the warehouse at its lowest and highest points.

Drive in for More Space

Let's start with the last one first. Face it, racking is racking. It rarely becomes obsolete because of new technology. If your needs can be
met by quality refurbished racking, you will save money. However, in order to be certain that your needs will be met, make certain you trust your
supplier and the refurbishing process they employ.

Most material handling vendors that deal in used and renewed equipment have finely tuned their methods of pricing in order to give you a quote
based on the information listed above. Let's use drive-in racking as an example.

Drive-In racking is a type of "last in, first out" (LIFO) racking meaning product is loaded as far back in the rack as it will go. When
unloading, the nearest available pallet is selected from the same side, as opposed to a FIFO (first in, first out) system where you usually load
the product from the rear. In FIFO applications, product either flows to the forward of first position on a conveyor or it will be driven through
the system.

Drive-in systems are widely used throughout the warehouse industry in places that have large volumes of pallets to store and seek an affordable,
dense pattern. If you have a warehouse with clear floor space, high ceilings and hundreds of pallets to store on a tight budget, the choice is simple.
Instead of creating a maze of rows and aisles, as you would with standard selective pallet racking, you create one large grid with access on a single
side to drive in.

Keep in mind that the space savings are not the only benefit you will realize, although an estimated 80-85% space utilization can be achieved.
Another factor in calculating your return on investment (ROI) is the potential savings in labor, equipment, product damage and operating costs.

Even so, gaining 50% more capacity to store your loads in an existing space can be very attractive when you consider the cost of additional
warehouse space. Instead of figuring out which direction you are going to grow and how big an addition you will need for your building, you will
instead think of the things that you can do with the space left over after consolidating.

Advantages of a Clean Floor

After doing away with selective pallet racking and consolidating into one easy to access area, you will soon realize the rest. You will instantly
notice that you are no longer driving down aisles to find product, turning corners and dodging the pallets that have been left on the floor, obstructing
your path. Another noticeable difference is that there are fewer upright frames that can be damaged. Once you turn into the drive-in system past
the front uprights, your forklift is between a set of drive-in rails on which the pallets rest (except the bottom one). The product is further
protected if the system is designed to allow only pallet loads that are confined to the size of the pallet. Systems designed for product overhang
are still able to provide a certain level of protection.

Usually, the forklift that operated within the structure will be the same unit that loads and unloads freight from a truck. The distance traveled
by the forklift decreases per pallet retrieved or stored, reducing wear and tear on the unit. The ability to access the pallets faster and safer
means that you can also increase your rate of picking per man hour, again increasing your ROI.

Another way to save your company money by using drive-in racking is to double-stack your pallet loads on the bottom level. This will increase
the maneuverability of the forklifts and will systematically reduce loading and retrieval time by carrying two pallets at once. This can only be done
where identical SKU's are stored and cubed loads of the same items are forecasted for shipment. Pallet loads must be stable and free standing
while you double-stack them, without causing damage to the product. The total combined weight of the double stack must not be more than what the
forklift is able to handle.

These are just a few of the things you can think about before calling your sales representative. Other issues will come up before you make your
purchasing decision, but a little planning can save a lot of time.

Jason Deiter is a sales representative for SJF Material Handling, Inc. of Winsted, Minnesota, a nationwide supplier of
material handling equipment and services for 27 years. He can be reached at 800-598-5532 or .
You can reach SJF online at www.SJF.com.

Tough times forces Winsted equipment company to evolve

By Dick Youngblood

Material handling equipment may not be the sexiest topic on the business page, but the turnaround that brothers Stafford, Jim and Frank Sterner
fashioned for their small Winsted, MN company in just four years sure has produced some eye-fetching numbers.

When I first talked with the Sterners five years ago, they were optimistically projecting that their sales of new and refurbished material handling equipment
would climb 47 percent, to $17 million, in fiscal 2001 ending Feb. 28.

There was just one problem, as CEO Stafford Sterner now concedes: Their company, SJF Material Handling Inc., was essentially a commodity business,
susceptible to the vagaries of a fickle economy - a fact that had been masked by the go-go years of the 1990's.

Starting in 2000, they were hit by a triple whammy of vagaries, beginning with the dot-com crash, which hammered sales to distributors of online
merchandise. Then came the recession, which was only magnified by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

As distribution centers closed around the country, creating a glut of used equipment, prices fell significantly - and so did SJF's sales.

After growing just 5 percent in fiscal 2001, to $12 million, SJF revenue dropped to $11 million in 2002 and to $10 million in both of the next
two years. This forced cutbacks that halved employment to about 50, the first layoffs in the company's history.

That's the bad news. The more instructive news is that the Sterners have reconstructed their business model since 2001, adding services that gave
them a competitive advantage - and a 42 percent sales jump in fiscal 2005, to a record $14.3 million.

Better yet, they're two-thirds of the way through fiscal 2006 and on track to finally reach that $17 million sales level this year - a 19 percent
gain over 2005.

Change began in 2001

The reincarnation began early in 2001, when the Sterners started working on a software package that could be customized to help each client integrate
SJF equipment into their existing material handling operations with a minimum of difficulty and expense.

This, in turn led to a systems integration business in which SJF not only supplies new and refurbished used equipment and software but also
manages the project through design, installation and training to deliver a turnkey product.

"Before, a customer had to hire various vendors to do all of these things," Stafford said. The changes significantly strengthened SJF's
competitive position, particularly against new-equipment dealers, he said.

The new software and project management services weren't the only reasons. While SJF is a major player in the used and refurbished equipment market,
holding what is regarded as the largest inventory of used equipment in the country, it also sells new equipment as an agent for more than 60
manufacturers.

Thus, as the project manager, SJF can blend new and refurbished equipment to reduce client costs significantly and meet its objective of designing
systems that will give clients a payback in six to 12 months.

For example: The company's first big project management assignment came in 2003 at a book-return center that publisher Penguin Group USA operated
in upstate New York. The task: replace a manual handling system with an automated one to process the 35 million books that pass through the center
each year.

And the payoff: According to the trade journal Modern Materials Handling, the project cost 1.2 million and paid for itself in operational savings
in less than a year. (Actually, the cost was closer to 1.7 million and the payback nearer to seven months, Stafford Sterner said.)

Profit margins climb

Whoever is right, the job led to three more Penguin assignments since then.

Perhaps most impressive, SJF was hired earlier this year to tear out a three-year-old, $2 million distribution system that wasn't working for
Pennsylvania-based National Book Network and replace it with a $1.5 million blend of new and refurbished equipment.

The result: A four-month backlog that had built up with the old system was erased in a month while cutting processing costs by more than half,
Stafford said.

By the end of fiscal 2005, the fast-growing software and systems integration activities accounted for about a third of revenue, said Frank Sterner,
who's in charge of systems sales. Meanwhile, profit margins climbed to record levels well in excess of the industry average of 10 percent of
sales.

But without the changes in the business model, Stafford said, "we'd still be a $10 million company in a commodity business and working on
fairly small margins."

The new business wasn't the only reason for improved margins, however. When recession hit, the Sterners began slashing costs, including outsourcing
the expensive chores of dismantling the used equipment they buy and installing the systems they sell.

"We know who the players are, so we know where to find reliable [vendors]," Stafford said. For extra quality assurance, however,
they assign their own project manager to oversee each job. They also discontinued refurbishing less-profitable used equipment, finding that
margins on sales of some new equipment actually were better.

The Upshot: Despite the growth in sales, the Sterners have added just 10 jobs since the layoffs, to a total of 60.

SJF Material Handling, Inc.Business: Sells new and refurbished material handling equipment.Founded: 1979Headquarters: Winsted, MNWebsite:www.SJF.comExecutives: Stafford, Jim and Frank SternerEmployees: 60Revenue: $14.3 million in fiscal year 2005 ended Feb. 28, on course to reach $17 million in fiscal 2006Quote: "We'd still be a $10 million company in a commodity business and working on fairly small margins" - Stafford Sterner, CEO, talking about the dramatic changes in the business
model completed in the past four years.

Despite Illusions on TV, Quality Takes Time

In the consumer marketplace, people may pay extra for a designer label, a recognized brand or products with celebrity endorsements. When a business
invests in capital equipment, however, all the above becomes meaningless unless the equipment performs, meeting or exceeding expectations. While
price, delivery and aesthetics are the usual factors people claim as the primary criteria when making a purchase, reliability, in my view, has
slowly taken over the No. 1 spot as the key to customer satisfaction and repeat business.

By reliability, I mean confidence that the purchased equipment will perform as advertised over a reasonable amount of time.

Manufacturers will tell you that they are responsible for building the reliability into their products through a combination of good design,
quality materials and careful manufacturing techniques.

This is true to a point. However, manufacturers today are not only under the gun to produce quality products, but are being challenged to do it
in record time. America has long been a society that wants to have its cake and eat it, too. As if demanding things great but also cheap was
not challenge enough, today the bar has risen to include great, cheap, and delivered in 24 hours.

One only needs to turn on television to see how this phenomenon is running rampant. Is "reality TV" changing the way we conduct business?
Is it entertainment or a sign of things to come? Everything from building custom $100,000-plus motorcycles in a week to doing a full home renovation
while the owner is at the movies. Is this reality? The producers of the shows try to convince you it is. It happens every Wednesday night, and
they never missed a deadline yet. It appears that everything works and the end users seem pretty pleased (at first, anyway).

Today, it seems, consumers are convinced that if TV can do it, manufacturers should be able to as well. In reality, if I plunked down $100,000 for
a chopper style motorcycle, I wouldn't want them to build it in a week - but that's me. And as for my home, I would prefer they let the concrete dry
before they start putting the walls on top.

Call me old-school, but I still believe Rome wasn't built in a day. Even if it could have been done, the extra time was needed to make sure that
it would last.

So, how can you make certain you get your money's worth? Time, procedures and accountability.

No matter how many people you throw at a product to complete it, it takes time and testing to assure the quality is there and that the reliability
is built in.

Contrary to reality TV, a lot of things can happen to a product once it rolls off the assembly line. Leaving aside obvious abuse and catastrophic
accidents, even some fairly common practices can add to your repair bills, increase downtime and reduce the useful life of your equipment if procedures
are expedited or even skipped altogether.

The majority of manufacturers I have met take pride in the products they produce. Years of experience have taught them the steps necessary to produce
a quality product that will assure reliability for the owner once they take ownership. Asking them to compromise their standards inevitably will
result in steps being left out or expedited. In the end, you will not get the quality you paid for.

Working hand-in-hand with your suppliers and coordinating reasonable timetables is the No. 1 thing consumers can do to assure reliability and
get what they pay for.

Reap the benefits of rabbit-like reflexes: Invest in flexible systems

The problem is all too common. An expensive capital investment, which looked like the smartest thing you ever did a few years ago, no longer
meets your company's needs. It could be computer systems, manufacturing equipment, fleets of vehicles or material handling systems, but the problem
remains the same. Material handling is my field, but you should be able to take the following suggestions and apply them to your own situation.

If your material-handling system no longer meets your needs, there is a very good chance that you are a victim of inappropriately long-term
goals. Unfortunately, and much to your surprise, those goals have changed. It's still a good system; it's just not the right system for you now.

It would be nice if you could anticipate exactly where you are going to be in 10 years, then build an expensive, custom designed system to
help you get there - nice, but almost impossible. That's why I, contrary to many in my industry, recommend short-term planning. For reasons too
complex to go into here, the optimum lift of material handling systems is about four years. In the first year, if you are careful, the system
pays for itself. For the next two years you can enjoy the profitability of a paid-for, still efficient system. The last year should see you back
in the planning stage, looking ahead to the next system.

But there's more to the concept of short-term planning than simply planning for a shorter period of time. It also involves positive preparation for
the necessity of constant change.

Looking for change

First of all, recognize that change is inevitable. It will come, and if you can't foresee the details, you can at least anticipate general
trends. For example:

Business is better or worse than expected. This can be because of changes in the economy as a while, your specific market or the success of a particular
product. The designed capacity of your material-handling system is now either too much or too little.

A major change in the way you do business: Your regional business has gone national and you need to open new distribution centers. OR you decide
to consolidate several distribution centers, to lower costs of integrate operations of an acquired company. OR employee demands cause a rise in
labor costs and you are forced to rethink any number of labor-intensive operations. OR you have decided to eliminate the middle man and sell directly
to customers rather than a few dozen dealers.

News from the outside world: Changing conditions of war and peace cause fluctuations in the defense market. Terrorism brings new government regulations
and big changes in specific markets like import/export and cargo handling. Even something like a new road or the closing of a railroad line can cause
you to re-examine your material handling situation.

Run like hell, then totally change directions

A dog is chasing a rabbit. The dog is bigger, stronger, and faster on the straight-away. More often than not, however, the rabbit survives because
it is able to change directions while the dog skids into a tree or off a cliff. In business, you're either leading the pack or falling behind,
and staying ahead has at least as much to do with being able to change directions as with raw speed and power.

This is not the place to discuss keeping your entire organization flexible, but if you need 19 vice presidents' signatures on a requisition, your
current business plan does not allow you to change direction fast enough to compete today.

Flexibility can be designed into a system in two ways:

Planning never stops.

The evaluation and planning process should be ongoing. Your personnel should constantly be evaluating the performance of the current system
as well as reviewing new equipment on the market and changing factors in the marketplace and the world at large. The earlier the change in direction
is begun, the less drastic is has to be.

Design a changeable system.

Some systems are easier and less expensive to change than others, and this flexibility can be built in from the beginning. An investment in
excess capacity may cost a little, but it is less expensive and disruptive to your business than not having enough capacity down the line. Modular
systems such as stackable shelving units or scalable software that allows for the addition of workstations can facilitate growth or redesign as
needed. Finally, the use of refurbished rather than new equipment in certain parts of the system can shorten payback periods and make frequent change
more economical.

You can't always plan for specific changes, but you can plan on this: Change will be necessary, and sooner than you think.

Damage Control

After installing a cantilever rack storage system, Buffalo Veneer and Plywood in Buffalo, MN, gained speed, better organization and increased
damage control for its veneered plywood operation. Fewer damage problems with fletches coming in and end products waiting to be shipped out enabled
the company to recoup its costs within six months.

"We make cabinet and furniture grade plywood - all different species of veneered plywood," says Toby Erickson, head of shipping and receiving
at Buffalo Veneer and Plywood. "That means everything we make is in 4' x 8' sheets. Before the racks, those sheets were stored in stacks
on the floor with two-by-fours in between the loads. If we had to get to something at the bottom of the pile, we had to move the whole pile."

To decrease handling, a cantilever storage rack system was implemented by SJF Material Handling, Inc., engineered in conjunction with the plant's
layout and forklift fleet. Clark, Hyster and Yale forklifts move bundles that can weigh anywhere from 1,000 lbs. to 4,000 lbs. from the veneering
operations to the storage area on a daily basis.

"The rack system also helps with speed and organization," notes Erickson. "With everything on shelves, it's a lot easier because
we can go right to the bottom. Before the system, if a customer needed one or two sheets from a pile that happened to be on the bottom, it would
take us 10 to 15 minutes to help him. Now, we have him out the door in five minutes or less.

"The real benefit is a lot less damage from having to handle the material. Having to lift three or four piles to take some material out
greatly increases your chances of damaging it with the forklift or running it into something else. If you don't have to handle it, you don't have
that problem. I would say damage has decreased by 50 to 75 percent. Some of this material can get pretty expensive, so when you're talking about
less damage, it's a big deal."

Has the time come for a reconditioned forklift fleet?

By Frank Sterner

Every industry has its accepted truths. These are the things that everybody knows - the obvious answers. The problem is that yesterday's truths may
be out of date, and things that appear to be common sense on the surface may be a lot more complicated when you look a little deeper. When the
question is a potentially expensive one like the purchase and maintenance of your forklift fleet, it's a good idea to examine both possibilities.
The industry is changing, and old truths should be re-examined. In addition, your options have grown, and the old easy answers may no longer be the
best solutions.

The single Manufacturer Fallacy

Most operations that run a large fleet of forklifts select a primary new truck manufacturer (for example, Toyota or Hyster for pneumatic/cushion
trucks, Crown or Raymond for electrics). It's more convenient, dealing with a single company when arranging purchase or lease agreements, but
that is not the primary consideration. The big issue is maintenance.

Full service leases are supposed to cover maintenance costs up front. Ideally, they allow you to plan maintenance schedules and costs, and then
forget about it for the duration of the lease. There are two problems with this pretty picture. For one thing, most full service leases do not
cover repair costs on the failure of components that are out of factory warranty, or on the failure of wear items such as brakes, etc. You can
never be absolutely certain what maintenance costs will be.

On the face of it, this is an additional argument for selecting a single supplier, since it means that you will only have to stock one set of parts
and train your people on one machine (or at least machines from a single manufacturer). True, this will save you a little, but at what cost?

Not all forklift manufacturers are good at everything that a forklift does in your operation. There are just too many variables. Electrics are
quiet, inexpensive and nonpolluting, but of limited range. In some narrow aisle warehouse applications, turning radius can become a major consideration.
In extreme cases, turret trucks may be required.

To get the most efficient vehicle for every job, you would have to determine the features and characteristics required for that job, and then buy the
necessary number of trucks from the manufacturer who makes the best forklift with those features and characteristics - and then repeat the process
for every job in your operation. A multi-location facility could easily end up with four or five different makes of lift truck. Is this the making
of a maintenance nightmare? Not necessarily.

Remember, you are still only using one brand of fork lift for a given task, and because you have selected the brand with the best performance
for that function, your maintenance for that brand is likely to go down. The periodic service requirements are the same, and component failure
is less likely to occur if the vehicle is better designed for that specific application.

Keeping a larger inventory of parts may cost a little more to begin with, but maintaining that inventory over time should result in no significant
additional expense. As for training, it may be possible to specialize there as well. For example, instead of training two people on maintenance
for a single brand, you might train each of them on one of the brands in use - for little or no additional expense.

New vs. Refurbished

Another accepted truth that may no longer be true is that refurbished forklift trucks, while less expensive than new ones, are less reliable
and therefore not a good investment.

With the ever-increasing costs of capital equipment, refurbishing used lift trucks has finally become big business. Only a few years ago, the
market for reconditioned forklifts wasn't big enough to justify the expense of setting up an assembly line to tear down, inspect and re-assemble a
vehicle with enough quality control to insure reliable operation in heavy use conditions.

The term refurbished means different things to different people. Before you even consider this option, make certain that the unit has been disassembled
to the bare frame, sandblasted, painted and rebuilt. Even the engines should be completely broken down, refurbished and repainted to work and
look like new. Purchasing used forklifts can be risky, but buying quality refurbished ones doesn't have to be.

For years, third parties have been refurbishing trucks for small users who could not afford new units. They had to do it by themselves to insure
quality, and the number of quality refurbished trucks on the market was extremely limited. That is no longer true. The market for renewed trucks
has grown to the point where there are now factory reconditioned forklifts available at perhaps one third the cost of new trucks. Not only that,
but they are available in quantities that should be attractive to a fleet user.

The quantities are there, and the price is certainly attractive, but what are you really getting when you buy a refurbished forklift truck? Is this
where you can find yourself in a maintenance nightmare? Again, not necessarily.

Renewed vehicles have had some run time, a kind of shakedown cruise after which the weak components are replaced. The result is a more reliable
unit. Obviously, a refurbished truck has less of its reliable service life left than a new one, but consider the following scenario. You purchase
a refurbished unit at one third the cost of a new one. You have already skipped the first wave of high maintenance cost that occurs during the
run-in phase. You maintain it regularly and retire it perhaps a year earlier than you would a new unit, thus avoiding the last stage of high maintenance
as it nears the end of its useful life. You have saved considerably in terms of capital investment, and your maintenance costs may actually go
down as well.

Name Brands

There is one last accepted truth I would like to address related to the issue of maintaining a fleet of forklift trucks - brand name versus off-brand
parts. It seems obvious that an operation running a particular brand of forklifts will be safest stocking spare parts from that manufacturer,
even if they do cost a little more. Fortunately, that isn't always true.

Many of my friends and customers in the manufacturing business are up in arms over China because they have become such a tough competitor in
recent years. However, the same pricing that creates this frustration with China as a competitor can be helpful to forklift buyers. Factories
in China that have produced parts for other name brand trucks for years are now starting to sell direct in the United States at significantly
reduced prices over name brands.

Notice that these are often the same people that made the brand name parts. The parts are not less expensive because of lower quality. They
are less expensive because of the distribution strategy. There is no dealer taking a percentage off the top. There is no forklift manufacturer using
overpriced spare parts as a profit center in order to lower prices on new trucks and in order to lock in brand loyalty.

With these lower prices for spare parts, there is less reason to fear the possibility of higher maintenance costs with a multi-manufacturer
and/or refurbished fleet of forklift trucks. More than ever before, it is possible to put together a fleet based on the only questions that should
really matter: what do forklifts really do in your operation, and which forklifts - new or refurbished - can most effectively and economically
do the job(s)?

Wars aren't Won on the Cheap

By Tom Andel - Chief Editor, Material Handling Management

To be effective, your fight against unmanagement has to start the moment you decide to install a new material handling system. Then is the time
to start explaining to everybody who will be working with the system just what it is expected to do and how they're expected to make it work. By
everybody we mean vice president on down to sweeper. And each should be told what his specific responsibilities are.

Only one man I know could use the non-word "unmanagement" and make it work.

Bernie Knill.

He wrote the lead paragraph, and anyone involved in updating a warehouse or distribution center would do well to take his advice. Many of those
who read it when he first wrote it in the March 1962 edition of Material Handling Engineering were glad they did.

Technology has changed quite a bit in the 42 years since Bernie wrote his first editorial in MHE, but those sage instructions for making the
stuff work are just as meaningful today. I reprinted a bit of his wisdom here not only to make a point, but also to pay tribute. You'll find Bernie's
last column for MHM on page 78. He's decided that the March 2004 edition will be a fitting milestone to mark the start of a fulltime vacation.

If you're a Bernie fan, as I am, you've come to appreciate his insights into enlightened material handling management. I've had the pleasure of
knowing him since he first hired me in 1980. Under his guidance I learned much about reporting on technology and the people who manage it. Although
the paragraph excerpted above was written well before my time on staff, I couldn't have offered a more timely piece of advice to today's buyers
of material handling equipment. Warehousing and distribution are still people-dependant arts. Logistics execution systems, poorly applied, will
fail. Lift truck fleets with poorly trained and motivated operators will fail - and will be dangerous while failing. The widely touted benefits
of radio frequency identification (RFID) will fail to materialize unless you translate Wal-Mart's prescription to apply it in terms its users will
appreciate.

Another lesson Bernie taught me is material handling won't work on the cheap. Shortcuts are paths to disaster. Both the suppliers and practitioners
of warehousing and distribution are prone to bottom-line-induced blindness. On the supplier side, especially with all the mergers and acquisitions
that have been going on in the material handling equipment and systems industries, some OEMs might be tempted to undercut competitors on price
to stay competitive with these new giants of material Handling. Stafford Sterner, president of SJF Material Handling, went on
the record with us to offer his take on the situation.

"Too many companies have bought into the concept of foregoing profits in pursuit of market share, with the idea
of becoming profitable once the competition is eliminated," he opined. "It's called 'buying a job,' meaning submitting a bid that allows
for little or no profit."

"The downside of that," he added "is that without profits, the OEM has no money to invest in research
and development, capital expenditures or continuing education. Its growth is all on paper, and will disappear as soon as it runs out of money
to buy jobs."

You, the buyer, could lose out by dealing with such poorly funded and trained suppliers. But you may also be prone to cutting corners yourself
to get technology on the cheap. Lift trucks are a perfect example. One of the biggest problems lift truck OEMs face is when customers buy cheap,
knockoff replacement parts to keep old vehicles on the job. When these rebuilt lift trucks fail dramatically as a result, productivity and safety
suffer, and customers end up paying a much higher price than they would have by purchasing OEM-approved parts or even buying or leasing a new
lift truck.

The need for on-the-job education on both sides of the sales counter has only increased since Bernie Knill started his fight with material
handling "unmanagement" more than four decades ago. HMH will continue the campaign.